OCALA, FL—United States Attorney A. Lee Bentley, III announces that Robert Lawrence Brown (32, Clermont) has pleaded guilty to accepting a bribe as a public official. He faces a maximum penalty of 15 years in federal prison. A sentencing date has not yet been set.

According to the plea agreement, beginning in January 2015, Brown used his position as a Correctional Officer at the Coleman Federal Correctional Complex to smuggle contraband to inmates in exchange for monetary payments. On June 18, 2015, federal agents monitored a meeting between Brown and a cooperating witness. During that meeting, Brown accepted $2,600 for items that he had already smuggled into the prison. When confronted by investigators, Brown admitted that he had illegally negotiated $7,100 in cash payments in return for smuggling cellphones, prescription pills, tobacco, and other items to federal inmates.

This case was investigated by the Department of Justice Office of the Inspector General and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. It is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Robert E. Bodnar, Jr.